Introduction
In making this website, I have shown my interest in public transportation and its history. So, I sent a list of things that interested me and that I wanted to post to someone, and I got some exciting post ideas. One was called The Rise and Fall of Streetcars in Atlanta, so I did that. It turns out that streetcars have a fascinating history, and I want to share that knowledge with you. Enjoy.
19th Century
The streetcar’s history starts 6 years after the Civil War ended, in 1871. When the streetcars began appearing on the streets, they were powered by horses. In those days, the streetcar was one of the first alternatives to horses and feet for transportation. Streetcars also greatly benefited cities because they reduced the congestion on the streets, and there was a lot of it. In addition to police on horses, people walking, and carts full of food, there were animals. Lots of them. Animals dominated our streets until the early 20th century. So, as cities began to industrialize, more and more people started living in the city. That brings us back to the streetcar, which, in addition to subways, significantly reduced all of this congestion. In the 1880s, streetcars began being powered by electricity, reducing street congestion. By the end of the 19th century, streetcars and subways showed that a city was indeed modern.
20th Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the streetcar system was expanded to include interurban railways, a type of intercity streetcar that connected Atlanta with the surrounding cities. However, the rise of a new form of transportation arrived, the car. Car congestion blocked the streetcars from moving any faster than the cars, which made the streetcar inconvenient, and more and more people took cars. This problem, but with buses, is called the Downs-Thomson Paradox. The streetcar lines were removed, slowly and surely, until the final ones were removed in 1949. After 1949, the vacuum left open by streetcars was filled with buses and the trolleybus, also called trackless trolleys, which are like buses. The streetcars seemed to be gone forever until a new generation of 21st-century council members decided to change that.
21st Century
In the 21st century, people realized they needed to revive the streetcars if they wanted their city to live. After much work, Atlanta installed a streetcar system to run along Peachtree Street in 2014. There are more plans to build streetcars, such as along the BeltLine, a former railway encircling the dense part of the city and running near my house. I can’t wait for the plans to go into action, and I hope to see more like this.
